


Shake it like a Polaroid picture (even though it's not)

by TheIcyQueen



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Comedy, Gen, Humor, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:00:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24814222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheIcyQueen/pseuds/TheIcyQueen
Summary: The characters in Until Dawn absolutely, definitely, unquestionably act like normal people 100% of the time. There are NO exceptions to this rule. At all. Everyone jiggles everything they pick up all the time, and anyone who says otherwise is a liar.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 24





	Shake it like a Polaroid picture (even though it's not)

**Author's Note:**

> There will come a day where I stop making fun of the weird things you can do in Supermassive games. Today is not that day. 
> 
> I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not.

“So, uh…what…whatcha doin’ there, sport?”

Well that was the question, wasn’t it? That was the big ol’ million dollar question. What _was_ he doing?

“Uh,” Chris began, his forehead wrinkling even as he said it, “Y’know…I’m not…positive.”

Sam set her weight on her hip and cocked her head to the side, just waiting for the punch line to finally hit. With Chris there was _always_ a punch line, after all, and people didn’t go around doing…well, _that_ without there being some sort of joke waiting in the wings. So she waited. And waited. And he just kept…doing it. “Okay, seriously,” she said after another few seconds, “What’s going on with you? You realize things are pretty, uh, messed up around here at the moment, right?”

He rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to drone ‘Yeah, _Mom_ , I’d noticed, _Mom_ ,’ at her. Things _were_ pretty messed up just then, what with all of them almost dying and Mike trying to wrestle Josh out of the back door, but he just absolutely, positively, could _not_ refrain from what he was doing even despite all that. “If I had any idea what was going on, Sam, I promise you would be the first person to know, okay? The very first! Scout’s honor.”

She shot him a look, clearly unconvinced, and simply pointed. “That photo was printed like, two years ago.”

“I am aware, Sam.”

“And it’s not a Polaroid.”

“Again, thank you, I am aware.”

There was a quiet sound as she sucked on her teeth. Was it the weirdest thing that had happened tonight? Not by a long shot. Was it still batshit bizarre? Well, maybe not by Chris’s standards, but by _hers_ it sure was. “So, um…why are you shaking it like that, then?”

Another million dollar question!

“For your information, _Samantha_ , I’m not shaking it, I’m just kinda, um…turning it over.”

“Repeatedly.”

“Yeah, repeatedly.”

She blinked, then raised her eyebrows. “And why, pray tell, are you turning it over repeatedly?”

“I don’t…” He sighed, and unless she was mistaken, it sounded like there was a fair amount of distress in that breath. “I don’t _know?_ ” Chris turned to her, still rhythmically turning the prom photo of her, Hannah, Emily, and Mike over every few seconds; he flashed her a smile that was really more of a grimace, as though his strange behavior was just as much a mystery to him as it was to her. “I just keep feeling like I need to check the back of it.”

“…for what, exactly?”

“Ugh, I don’t know! Secrets, I guess.”

“… _secrets_.”

“Yeah.”

“On the back…of a two-year-old photo from prom.”

Chris rolled his eyes to the ceiling and let out another harried groan. “I already said I don’t know, Sam!”

“It doesn’t even look comfortable to do that, like…why is your grip on it so _weird?_ ”

“Once more with feeling— _I do not know, Sam_.”

She folded her arms across her chest and slowly shook her head. For just a second, she glanced over her shoulder, calling into the great room, “Hey Ashley?” If anyone could figure out what this was, it was probably her, after all. She heard the faint groan of the couch as Ash got up, and she turned back to Chris in the meantime. “Can someone just randomly develop super weird, intense OCD over the course of a night?”

“Uh, not that I’m aware o—” Ashley joined them at the side table near the stairs, her voice trailing off mid-word. “What’re you doing?”

“Oh I’m so glad we get to have this conversation again,” Chris said, still relentlessly turning the photo over. It was a sight to behold, really—he’d hold it in front of him for a second or two, then turn his wrist to flip it over, hold it there for a second or two, and then turn his wrist again, _ad nauseum_. “Clearly, as you both can see, I’m baking a freaking pie. What do you _want_ from me?”

“Why don’t you just set it down?” Sam asked.

That earned her a withering gaze. “Oh! Set it down! Gee, I sure hadn’t thought of that one! Here, let’s try.” And the photo turned.

With a sigh, she turned to Ashley, resisting the urge to start kneading at her temples. They’d already lost Josh to the Land of Far-Far Away, they definitely didn’t need to add Chris to that list…not if they were going to have to wait the storm out until tomorrow. “Did he hit his head or something? I mean, that’s a pretty gnarly bruise…”

“I’m right here. I can hear you discussing the finer points of my forehead. Could you maybe refrain from shaming me while I’m _suffering?_ ”

Ashley watched him for a moment longer, her lower lip disappearing into her mouth as she chewed, chewed, chewed at it. Then, just when Sam thought she wasn’t going to say anything at all, she shrugged. “That happened to me earlier, too.”

She blinked. “…I’m sorry, what?”

“Yeah, I found this old catalogue in the basement? I kept flipping through the pages for like five minutes, I dunno…just back and forth, back and forth…” She patted Chris soothingly between the shoulder blades before turning to head back to the couch. “You’ll get over it. Just give it another couple minutes.”

“Great,” he sighed, “Fantastic. Perfect. God, I was wondering what you were doing with that thing earlier. I was like ‘Sheesh, since when does Ash care about light bulbs so much?’”

“Yeah, it was really weird. I kept feeling like there were…I dunno, _secrets_ I needed to find or something.”

“Yeah! Exactly!”

Sam looked from Chris to Ashley’s retreating back, shook her head, and decided she would let it drop. The night had already been way too goddamn weird for her.

**Author's Note:**

> All this month, I'm taking part of a writing challenge with a few of my writing buds, where we all try to write a drabble a day! I'm posting ALL of my daily drabbles on tumblr in the "Queenie writes challenge stuff" tag, but I'm trying to cherrypick a handful to put up here on AO3 too every few days. 
> 
> As always, I hope you guys are hanging in there <3 And hey, if there are specific things/ships you wanna see if I can squeeze into some of these upcoming challenge prompts, let me know!!! Let's see if I can flex those creative muscles a little, huh?? Most of you already know this song and dance, but you can find me on tumblr as queenofbaws, and my inbox and messenger are always open :)


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